Teaching – Page 4 – Embrace the Absurd

My Miss Brooks

Our Miss Brooks was a highly successful comedy series on radio and early television that followed the life and career of a fictional high school English teacher, Connie Brooks. My Miss Brooks, Ann Brooks, was a highly successful teacher of the fifth and sixth grade Advanced Work Class at the Mather School in Dorchester, MassachusettsContinue reading “My Miss Brooks”

And all the teachers are above average –

A case for a norm-referenced criterion Charlie DePascale, June 2014 This brief was written in response to questions about the use of norm-referenced criteria in teacher evaluation systems. Specifically, questions were raised about the fairness of systems in which the bottom ‘x’ percent of teachers were always identified as less effective regardless of their levelContinue reading “And all the teachers are above average –”

It’s January. Can Johnny Read?

While we spent the fall waiting for PARCC to set performance standards, NAGB to release NAEP scores, and Congress to reauthorize ESEA, students and teachers across the country were going to school day after day, week after week, month after month. Now it’s the middle of January and half of the school year is complete. Continue reading “It’s January. Can Johnny Read?”

He was my teacher, and he was effective

Labor Day is one of those times each year when memories of my father come flooding back. Dad was a high school teacher for forty years from the late 1950s until the late 1990s. Labor Day, signaling the end of summer and the beginning of each new school year, was a major event for ourContinue reading “He was my teacher, and he was effective”